by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Srila Bhakti Vinode Thakur Disappearance Day 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Srila Bhakti Vinode Thakur Disappearance Day 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Srila Bhakti Vinode Thakur Disappearance Day 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Srila Bhakti Vinode Thakur Disappearance Day 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Srila Bhakti Vinode Thakur Disappearance Day 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Srila Bhakti Vinode Thakur Disappearance Day 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Srila Bhakti Vinode Thakur Disappearance Day 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Srila Bhakti Vinode Thakur Disappearance Day 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Srila Bhakti Vinode Thakur Disappearance Day 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Panihatti Cida Dahi Festival 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Panihatti Cida Dahi Festival 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Panihatti Cida Dahi Festival 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Panihatti Cida Dahi Festival 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Panihatti Cida Dahi Festival 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Panihatti Cida Dahi Festival 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Panihatti Cida Dahi Festival 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Panihatti Cida Dahi Festival 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Panihatti Cida Dahi Festival 2015

by Assit Administrator 2 SJMKL - Panihatti Cida Dahi Festival 2015

BY BCC

SEBERANG JAYA - The recent Sunday Feast, Simheswara Dasa received a cheque for RM10,000 from Cakreswari Dasi as 50% sponsorship of her RM22,000 pledge towards Srila Prabhupada Gallery. She's a pensioner with a big heart to serve Sri Guru & Sri Gauranga!

Every Sunday without fail she would go for book sankirtan. She is also very active in Food For Life in Bhaktivedanta Cultural Center (BCC) & outside (markets, orphanages, etc) too, helps out in the deity kitchen services almost everyday and heaps more of services done by mataji.

2015 06 13 Chetana Festival Who’s Responsible-Radharani Mataji ISKCON Chowpatty

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The word rama literally means “pleasure.” With a long initial “a,” rāma, it means “pleaser and enjoyer” – a “lover” in the romantic and erotic sense. It is a name for the god of eros, kāma-deva, and is used amongst commoners to denote any extremely seductive and attractive man or woman.

The words rāma and krishna form a natural pair, because krishna indicates the attraction of consciousness, and rāma indicates the thing consciousness is attracted to: pleasure! It also indicates the result of being attracted to krishna: pleasure.

If krishna refers to Brahman – the self-sustaining, effortlessly manifest effortless consciousness – then rāma refers to the bliss of that carefree existence: brahmānanda – nirvāṇa.

If krishna refers to Paramātmā – the effortless manifestor of all consciousness – then rāma refers to śānta-rasa the joyful experience of seeing all things as equally divine and thus feeling effortlessly peaceful and satisfied.

If krishna refers to Bhagavān – the epitome of effortlessly joyful personal consciousness –  then rāma refers to devotional sentiment, bhakti-rasa, the feeling of affection and admiration for that Supreme Person.

Some say that the entire mahāmantra is about Bhagavān and the word krishna refers to one manifestation of Bhagavān, the Gopa of Vṛndāvana, but Rāma refers to a different manifestation, either Paraśū-rāma, Rāma-chandra, or Bala-rāma. There is nothing incorrect in this view, but it does not allow the deepest understanding of the mahāmantra to unfold. It is not wrong, but it is not the best understanding either.

The best understanding is that the three nouns of the mantra name and describe the same entity – the being who is the origin of all manifestations of Bhagavān, Paramātmā, and Brahman. That entity is the primeval erotic principle in person – the transcendent, self-manifest kāma-deva at the root of all existence. 

By the name krishna he “pulls” and “attracts” us. Then, by the name rāma he enjoys us… and thus delights us.

Tagged: Hare Krishna, Hare Krsna, Mahamantra, Mantra, Rama

I was really inspired to see how much interest there was in my article on chanting. There were a few consistent or excellent questions I heard amongst the responses, so I’ll try to reply to them.

About the Speed

I was surprised that a few people found it hard to believe that it is possible to chant rounds quickly (aiming for 3.5 minutes, but at least achieving 4.5 ~ 5 minutes per round). Just get a stopwatch, sit down and time yourself over a period of a few consecutive days, trying to improve your speed. After a few days you’ll figure out how to at least be around 5 ~ 5.5 minutes per round. Remember, the chanting must be light if you are doing it vocally.

About Moving Around

Many people found it hard to believe that moving around rhythmically while chanting is counter-productive. To reiterate, the problem is that this will give us the illusion that we are chanting, when actually we are not paying any attention. The movements count off our progress, because its easy to keep track of movements while thinking of something else. The words of the mantra should count off our progress through the mantras, but it is very difficult or impossible to keep track of those words while thinking about something else – and that’s why we bop around while chanting.

100% of the time, when I realize I’m not paying attention, I also realize that I’m swaying to and fro to keep the beat while my mind drifts off to some other pasture.

The definition of how we should perform japa is āsana – which means “sitting.” And the definition of how āsana should be done is sukha-sthira — comfortable but solid. Solid does not mean bopping around. No śāstra has ever recorded a yogi rapt in concentration while swaying to a beat. They always sit perfectly still.

About Chanting Not Being a Mental Gymnastic

One person asked a very intelligent question. It was something like this, “You said that mental chanting is the most powerful, but you also said that chanting is not something done by the mind. Isn’t this a contradiction?”

Even when chanting is done with the tongue, it is not actually the tongue that produces the mantra. Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī cites Padma Purāṇa as saying ataḥ śrī kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ | sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphurty adaḥ – “Śrī Krishna’s name and so on are beyond the reach of the senses, but if the tongue and so on develop a devotional attitude Krishna will appear there of his own accord.”

The mind is the collection of internal senses (the actual sensory powers which receive input through the nervous system from the physical sense organs), so it operates on the same principle. Krishna (his name and so on) is beyond the grasp of the mind. His name cannot be produced by the mind or its sensory tools – but if one takes a devotional attitude, Krishna is delighted to manifest within the grasp of our mind and senses.

To clarify a little bit, while chanting, I have noticed that my mind is only straining and busy when I am trying to wrestle with other simultaneous thoughts. If I simply agree, “OK, no other thoughts right now, I am giving my attention wholly to Krishna – let him take it or leave it as he pleases and do what he wants with it.” Then, chanting becomes easy and delightful.

I hope these replies are useful to the great devotees who are sincere about developing a relationship with Krishna name. I hope I am of service to them by posting these articles.

Vraja Kishor das

VrajaKishor.com

Tagged: Chanting, Hare Krishna, Japa, Mahamantra, mantra-japa

The Sydney devotee community is looking forward to building another temple at Vineyard in the western part of the city. They have named it Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir.

I was thinking about the day I started the Japa Group, almost 8 years ago. The reason I started the group was based on a quote from Srila Prabhupada, that we should write about our realisations every day.
It also came from a strong desire to share my thoughts about this important activity....my struggles and small realisations and to broadcast the writings and words of other devotees.
The group has come along way since then, almost 5,000 members on Facebook and many email subscribers plus numerous encouraging letters from members in various countries.

Thank you everyone for your support - please continue to share and spread the word on Japa!

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 26 April 2015, Radhadesh, Belgium, Vyasa Puja Morning Lecture, Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya Lila 24.124)

I would like to speak about the theme of collecting blessings because that is the reason why we are here. When it comes to spiritual strength, on our own we don’t really have any. The exception might be for some very advanced devotees but for most of us, we are not having that much strength. So, seeking blessings and seeking shelter is the only thing we can do and we should do it constantly. Therefore, a lot of hearing, a lot of chanting and a lot of service is what is required. See, when spiritual life becomes a routine, still it is undoubtedly very powerful, as it is a transcendental routine so whatever little thing we do is quite powerful. However, ‘This will do,’ is not a good mentality. The mentality should be to think, ‘It may be not enough!’  And what if it IS not enough!? What if is not enough to attract Krsna’s mercy? Mercy of Krsna cannot be taken for granted therefore one should not start thinking, ‘Well, I think I am doing reasonably well. I think by common standards, one can say that I am doing reasonably well. So, I think I can be satisfied.’

I can agree with those words to an extent but still, I myself cannot ever think like that – it is not possible. I am kind of afraid to think like that because I might be satisfied, but is Krsna going to be satisfied? And if He is not going to be satisfied then what will happen in the end, what will the result be? So I better go the extra mile then!

To balance this, I have to say that it is not a statement which is meant to drive people into over-endeavor where we begin to push ourselves in spiritual life where we harm our sadhana, our health and actually, we harm Krsna’s interest. It is in Krsna’s interest that we maintain our body in a good condition so that it remains a suitable tool. There is really no heroism in taking bath in ice water when twenty years later one is bent over with arthritis and seriously slowing down in service. I know about these things! Over-endeavor is not what I am advocating when I am speaking about going the extra mile. But when I speak about the extra mile, it is also not fanaticism, when one might say about me, ‘Well, it’s his nature!’ Now, that might be true to an extent. You know, in Vedic astrology, I have a Leo rising and lions are not pussycats, so what to do about that! (laughter) And also in Vedic astrology, upon the planets there are stars called naksatras which are at a greater distance and these stars give a particular influence – so in my case, there is a naksatra that makes me the lion on the chase. So I am not your lazy lion! I try sometimes but I cannot be one! (laughter)  I wish I could sometimes. I had my moments when I thought, ‘I wish I could just do nothing!’ But there is no such thing. However, to such wishes there is not a great benefit because the real benefit is there in the service.

The Bhagavad Gita opens with a question by Dhritrashtra. His opening question is an indication of a veiled doubt - assembled in the battlefield to fight what happened between his children and Pandu's children? His question was laced with doubt filled with anxiety. He knew deep inside, however, his sons' will lose. He wanted Sanjaya to allay his anxiety.

Sanjaya in the last and final verse of the Gita does the opposite. He answers Dhritrashtra's question unequivocally by saying that your sons' will not win because wherever there is Krishna with His pure devotee Arjuna, there is surely to be victory, opulence and moral justice. I think Sanjaya's final answer put to rest in a poetic yet definitive manner any optimism on the part of Dhritrishra had towards his sons.

As an outsider, simply studying these two verses symbolize the characters involved in the Gita and sets the stage and outcome of the Kurukshetra battle respectively.

Hare Krishna

(this blog is recorded on the full blog page: quick time player is needed; works best with Firefox or Explorer; if you are using Google Chrome it will automatically play, so if you don't want to listen, mute your speakers.)

Part 1[Republished from June 16th, 2015]

Devotee: “Hey! Haribol! How are you? I noticed that you haven’t written any new blogs on Krishna.com in quite a while. What have you been up to?”

Karnamrita: “I am good, thanks. Krishna is very kind! For the last two months I have taken a full time job, so I have been recycling, or reposting, my older blogs, which don’t usually don’t get read.”

D: Really, I thought you were retired?”

K: “I wouldn’t consider myself “retired” or tired, but it’s true that I haven’t worked a regular job in many years. My focus has been on my spiritual practices and writing. However, my new “job” over the last two months has been preparing our house for selling. In other words I have been repairing, painting, cleaning, getting rid of stuff, organizing or straightening what we have kept, making our house spiritually neutral, and doing a great deal of landscaping and gardening. While the lion’s share of the work is done thanks to my hiring a devotee neighbor, there are still many small actions that I continue to complete on a daily basis.”

D: “Organizing and getting rid of things. Hmmmm…that is really difficult for me. What was that like for you?”

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